Could Canada’s lax animal welfare rules contaminate NAFTA talks?

Imagine you are a baby calf, 18-months-old and the first animal of the day up for slaughter at a Canadian processing facility. You’re in a state of panic as you approach the ‘kill floor.’ You try to run and lose your balance, injuring yourself in the process.

A worker lines up the shot (his second attempt) and you bleed out immediately. Meanwhile, nearby, two other animals are so terrified that they break the walls of their holding pen trying to climb out.

Such incidents are commonplace, according to inspection records.

The good news? Our agriculture industry is dependant upon, and strongly interwoven with, the U.S. system. Historically, the American food safety system has held Canadian animal agriculture to account for unsafe standards and animal welfare concerns. A recent audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of Canada’s meat and egg inspection systems uncovered major “systemic” problems and inconsistencies in standards between the two countries.

Canadian industry slaughter rates are so rapid that government inspectors are failing to inspect animal carcasses thoroughly to ensure that they are not contaminated with feces, milk or other bodily fluids. U.S. officials state that the various sanitation and safety oversights “raise significant questions about the Canadian system and will need to be addressed.”

This is nothing new, of course. In 2012, it was U.S. inspectors who discovered the E. coli outbreak at a Canadian XL Foods plant, leading to the largest meat recall in Canadian history. The plant in question had a slaughter capacity of about 5,000 cows per day, and was forced to shut down over shortcuts taken to maintain its pace of slaughter.

Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union representing food inspectors in Canada, said he is “not surprised at all” by the audit results and stated that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is “stretched beyond (its) limit” and needs more resources.

The NAFTA renegotiations are a timely opportunity for U.S. industry to review its agricultural import requirements with an eye toward improving public safety and animal welfare. Between 2013 and 2015, U.S. ports of entry inspected about 200 million pounds of animal meat from Canada, and rejected 1.65 million pounds for various reasons — including the presence of fecal matter and bodily fluids, and for failed analytical tests for species and disease. The U.S. is expected to call on Canadian industry and government to improve their safety standards and animal welfare — if they want to continue to export their products south of the border.

Lack of enforceable oversight in animal agriculture leads to inhumane treatment of animals and poor food safety. Just this month, through an access to information request, inspection records from B.C. slaughterhouses revealed cruel treatment of animals and filthy conditions. Botched and prolonged slaughter. Necrosis (i.e. rotting flesh) on live animals. Contaminated meat and rodent droppings in facilities.

While slaughterhouses can face fines for convictions of negligence, the reality is that inspectors work with the facilities to ensure compliance. In fact, since 2014, they have levied no fines and issued no suspensions of operations other than temporarily pausing a processing line to fix an issue. Federal and provincial governments are failing to crack down on inhumane treatment of animals, egregious oversight and poor food safety.

These recent developments shine a light on the invisible victims of factory farming — the millions of animals in our food chain. While the number of Canadian farms is decreasing, the average size of existing farms is increasing. These industrial-scale farms are known for combining unnatural and unhygienic living conditions for animals with rapid slaughter rates.

Historically, Canadian and U.S. farmers and government have had a close relationship, with an integrated supply chain for products like beef, pork and chicken meat. If this strong trading relationship fractures, Canadian farmers will pay a huge price. Indeed, the United States’ top agriculture import from Canada is US$2.4 billion worth of beef and pork products.

With NAFTA at a crossroads, CFIA must create a plan of action to improve its animal welfare and safety standards. The clock is ticking for Canada to prove that its inspection system is adequate to the expectations of an important trading partner.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.

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The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.